In a area the place nobody bats a watch at month-to-month condominium rental charges larger than some individuals’s annual revenue, households struggling on the margins are inclined to get missed.
There are literally thousands of them. Essentially the most recent count pegs the variety of homeless college students in Washington at roughly 43,000 — the very best determine recorded for the reason that state started common monitoring, and sixth-highest quantity within the nation.
Two thousand of these college students are in Seattle Public Colleges.
Think about being a toddler in such a household. You marvel if different youngsters know you reside in a shelter or transitional housing. You watch your mother and father stress over back-to-school procuring, attempting to stretch a couple of {dollars} far sufficient to cowl new sneakers, garments, backpacks and college provides, which may simply complete a whole lot of {dollars}.
Schooling continues to be essentially the most dependable manner for a teenager to climb out of generational poverty, and the primary rung on that ladder is a highschool diploma. However youngsters with no secure residence face main hurdles reaching it. Final yr, 35% of homeless college students within the Class of 2024 didn’t graduate with their friends.
Every summer time, in an effort to make sure youngsters in want don’t fear about faculty garments and college provides on high of housing, Seattle Occasions readers generously contribute to the newspaper’s annual College Provides Fundraising Drive.
It kicks off at present, and each dime collected shall be divided amongst three teams that work with households who’re homeless or at risk of changing into so: the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness; YWCA Seattle-King-Snohomish; and on the East Facet, Hopelink. They use the donations to present households present playing cards for clothes, and to offer every little one with a brand new backpack stuffed filled with recent provides.
Final summer time, greater than 600 readers contributed a mixed $120,802 in donations. Because the drive started in 1999, it has collected over $1 million and helped to arrange tens of 1000’s of children for fulfillment.
The drive continues by Labor Day.
